Monthly Archives March 2008

Wanna check out the Photoshop World Tech Expo in Orlando next week for free? Here’s the deal: We usually open the Tech Expo part of Photoshop World to the public for one-day only, but this year in Orlando we’ve expanded our Expo to a third day, so we’re opening the show floor to the public for two full days (Thursday, April 3rd and Friday, April 4th).

If you sign-up in advance online, you can get the Expo pass free (if you show up at the door, it’s $20.00 per person). Here’s the link. Here’s why you should come to Orlando and check out the Expo:

You get to play with all the latest photography and Photoshop-related gear from exhibitors like Epson, Nikon (who have their own theater this year), Canon, Adobe, OnOne Software, Westcott, NikSoftware, Wacom, Microsoft, Chimera, Corel, LensBabies, and Tamron (among others).

There are lots of free training sessions right on the expo floor. You can catch free sessions from Peachpit Press’ authors (people like, well…me, and Bert Monroy, and Matt Kloskowski, and just about every cool trainer you can think of). Plus, this year Nikon has their own theater featuring their superstar shooters, and Microsoft has some incredible photographers doing presentations in their booth as well.

There are demo theaters all over the floor, where you can see everything from live shoots, to live demos on lighting, Photoshop plug-ins, new technology, and all kinds of juicy gear.

It’s a selling show, so vendors will be selling products, at show special pricing, right on the Expo floor (even B&H Photo has a booth, and it’s always jumpin’).

There’s a huge Official Photoshop Bookstore (by Peachpit Press), with everybody’s latest books (including books from almost all the Photoshop World Dream Team instructors), plus other major publishers, like O’Reilly and Wiley, will be there with books and special Expo only deals. Plus you’ll find deals on DVDs, and Online Training, and a whole lot more.

It’s a blast. It’s really an awful lot of fun (from the live taping of an episode of Photoshop User TV, to the freebies and goodies vendors give away at their booths), and the chance to meet your favorite trainers in person (including people like Joe McNally, Jay Maisel, Deke McClelland, Dan Margulis, Ben Willmore, among others), and get your books signed, and just talk.

Here’s the link to sign up for your free pass. I hope to see you on the show floor in Orlando next week! :-)

One more thing: If you want to kind of get a feel for the show (and in particular, what the the Tech Expo is like), check out the one-minute video clip below, which was created for the Boston 2005 Photoshop World.

I had a number of comments on my “Wedding Shoot” blog post yesterday, asking how to set up Lightroom and your camera to shoot tethered (where the images aren’t written onto your memory card—they go straight from the camera onto your laptop, so you can see them full size on screen). So, I thought I’d go ahead and show that today, so here ya go. The shot above, taken by RC, shows me shooting (along side makeup artist Shelly Giard) but I’m tethered very close to my laptop, because I forgot to bring my USB extender cable (I highly recommend picking up a USB extender cable. It’s really helpful, if you actually remember to bring it to the shoot).

Step One: To connect your camera to your laptop (or desktop machine), you need to use that little USB connector cable that came with your camera (the same cable that some people use to connect their camera to their computer to download photos as slowly as humanly possible). So, connect one end to your DSLR’s USB input, and then the other end into your laptop’s USB port.

Step Two: You will need a piece of software that goes between your camera, and Lightroom. If you’re a Canon shooter, you already have that software—it’s called “Canon EOS Viewer” and it comes free with your Canon digital camera. If you’re a Nikon shooter, you need Camera Control Pro 2, which sells for $160 at B&H, but you can download a fully working trial-version for 30-days from Nikons’ site (here’s the link).

Step Three: Make a folder somewhere on your computer (I put mine on my desktop), and name it “Watched.” Note: Since I’m shooting Nikon, I’m going to show how to set up Camera Control Pro 2 for Nikon shooters.

Step Four: Make sure your camera and laptop are connected, your camera is turned on, then launch Camera Control Pro 2. When the software launches, go under the Tools menu and choose Download options. When the dialog appears (shown above), click the Choose button (as shown here), and then find the “Watched Folder” you created in Step Three and choose it. That’s all you do in Camera Control Pro 2. On to Lightroom.

Step Five: Now you’re going to go to Lightroom, and set it up Go under Lightroom’s File menu, under Auto Import, and first choose “Enable Auto Import” (to turn it on) and then choose Auto Import Settings. When the dialog appears (shown above), at the top where it says “Watched Folder” click on the Choose button, find your watched folder, and choose it (now, any photo that goes into that Watched folder will get automatically imported into Lightroom, and that’s exactly where Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 is putting them). The rest of the dialog is pretty much like Lightroom’s normal import dialog, where you choose where the files are saved, what they’re named, and you add keywords.

That’s it—when you shoot now, the images go seamlessly through Nikon Camera Control Pro 2, and right into that folder in Lightroom. I select that folder in Lightroom, switch to the Grid view, double-click on the first photo so it zooms up to Loupe view size, and I start-a-shooin’. Hope that helps. :-)

Jeff Revell, of PhotoWalkPro.com fame, is going to be attending the Photoshop World Conference & Expo next week, and since he’s down that way he’s putting together a special Photo Walk in Orlando and everyone’s invited to come along (you don’t have to be a Photoshop World attendee to join the Photo Walk).

It’s scheduled for Tuesday April 1st, (Photo Walks last around two hours), and Jeff is planning on shooting just outside downtown—in and around the Lake Eola area (great cityscapes, plus skyline reflections in the water), and they’ll continue to some historic buildings and sites in the Church Street Station area.

Everyone’s invited to join Jeff and gang, and you can find out more details by clicking here. Make sure you check out shots from Jeff’s Photo Walk in Washington, DC earlier this month, here on my blog (Matt and I flew up for the walk) and check out the coverage on Jeff’s blog as well).

Here are some shots from a Bridal Shoot I did yesterday at a Catholic church in Clearwater, Florida (click on it for a larger view). The images haven’t been retouched in Photoshop yet—you’re seeing a straight capture of them taken in Lightroom’s “Lights Out” mode, in the Grid.

The shots were taken using the same one-light Elinchrom On-Location studio lighting set-up that I talked about on the final day of Lighting Gear Week (An Elinchrom Ranger RX Kit [flash head and battery pack], with a 53″ Elinchrom Midiocta softbox, mounted on a rolling Avenger boom stand. We also used a reflector for some of the shots, but mostly just that Elinchrom). We shot inside the church, and then outside in the portico, but still used the Elinchrom for everything except two of the shots you see here.

They were shot with a Nikon D3, with a 70-2oo mm VR lens, a 50mm f/1.4 lens (the one I talk about in Vol. 2 of “The Digital Photography Book), but a few were taken with a Nikon D300 using a 17-55mm f/2.8 lens and a 12-24mm f/4 wide angle zoom. I shot tethered to my laptop most of the day, with the images going straight from my camera right into Lightroom, via Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 (as seen below).

Thanks to RC Concepcion (who was there shooting me shooting the Bride–photo above by RC–click on it for a larger version), to Shelley (our makeup artist), to Erin (who assisted me on the shoot, and is seen above wondering–“Is this thing aimed right?), and of course, Kortney our lovely bride.

Last week I saw my first batch of copies of my new book, co-authored with my buddy and fellow Photoshop Guy, Matt Kloskowski, “The Photoshop Elements 6 Book for Digital Photographers.” This is the first version of the book that Matt and I have worked on together, and I’m am just thrilled with how it came out.

This new version covers all the new features in Elements 6, but we added lots of new techniques, and I did an entirely new section on Camera Raw processing in Elements 6, which is infinitely more powerful than it was in previous versions, plus I added a special section on workflow, and Matt brought his bag of tricks to the table, and well…there’s lots of cool new stuff for Elements users.

Matt is a brilliant teacher who really brought a lot to the book, and I think it’s the best version of the book yet. Amazon.com shows it shipping next week, and we have copies in-house, so it should be hitting everywhere real soon. If you want to get your first, here’s the link to the book on Amazon.com and at Barnes&Noble.com.

One of the highlights of the Photoshop World Guru Awards competition is the presentation of “The Vincent Versace Award for Digital Photography Excellence.” This is a special category within the photography category, and the winner of this prestigious award is chosen by Vincent himself. This year, the winner of “The Vinny,” is coming home with more than just the trophy. Take a look at what Vincent has lined up for this year’s winner:

An Epson Stylus Pro 3800 printer

A Nikon D60 Digital Camera outfit

Xrite’s Color Munki calibrator/profiler

Both Expo disks and the depth of field guides

ALL of NiKsoftware’s software

ALL of onOne Software’s software

ALL of the current DVD titles from Acme Education

and a signed 24×30 Versace original print

The winner will be announced during the Guru Awards ceremony next week in Orlando, Florida as part of the Photoshop World Conference & Expo. I know what you’re thinking; “Darn, I should have entered!”

About Me

Scott is the President of KelbyOne, an online educational community for Photographers, Photoshop and Lightroom users. He's editor and publisher of Photoshop User Magazine, Conference Technical Chair for the Photoshop World Conference & Expo, and the author of a string of bestselling Photoshop, Lightroom, and photography books.